Customer Reviews

Joseph Cornell's Vision of Spiritual Order (Reaktion Books - Essays in Art and Culture)

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Joseph Cornell has become a favorite of many art-lovers. His assemblage boxes of materials on topics ranging from rabbits to Lauren Bacall to the ornaments and symbols of childhood make for fascinating viewing. Cornell is a curious personality. On the one hand, he self-documented to a far greater extent than many artists, so that a relatively rich record of "what the artist was thinking" exists. On the other hand, he lived his life in a reclusive, introspective, elusive way, so that the viewer never quite feels that s/he has "gotten one's arms" around his perspective.

Lindsay Blair's "Joseph's Cornell's Vision of Spiritual Order" uses as its critical basis the foundations of Cornell's beliefs and influences, in an effort to help make the more elusive aspects of his work a bit clearer. She writes excellent passages about the way in which Cornell was influenced by, but certainly not at all co-opted by, the surrealist artists. She adroitly uses passages from Cornell's own writings, as well as analogies from his personal history, to provide cogent criticism which is less "art critic projection" and more a sincere, highly readable attempt to "get into" the mind of a man whose mind assiduously resisted such invasions.

Ms. Blair recognizes that Christian Science, Mr. Cornell's faith, has an impact on his work. In this respect, her writing is less revelatory, as her summation of the new thought ideas of Christian Science are a bit reductive. Mr. Cornell's work obviously has strong religious roots. Although Ms. Blair seems to have read up on some basic ideals of the faith, the passages in which she discusses Mr. Cornell's faith's influence on his work seem much less insightful than her discussion of the effects of other aspects of his personal life upon his work. One wonders if Mr. Cornell had been from a more "mainstream" faith if the explicitly religious motivation for some of his work (as revealed in his own writings) might have gotten a more comprehensive and detailed treatment than Ms. Blair accords here.
This is a very fine book, certainly one worth owing, but ironically, the reader is left wanting a bit more discussion of the actual "vision of a spiritual order" and perhaps a bit less traditional art criticism.

This book has wonderful photographs of Cornell's work, and functions well as criticism, as biography, and as a thought-provoking piece on Cornell's curious place in the art world. If one is familiar with Cornell's work, this is a fascinating inroad further into its meaning. If one is, as I am, less a hard-core Cornell devotee than one who has encountered his work relatively recently, this is a well-done introduction to his art and thinking. The book is relatively free of that self-serving "look how smart the critic is" art talk that besieges so much of this genre. Despite my quibbles about its "flaws", I highly recommend this book.